


Blood Moon

by FayTheGay



Category: Original Work
Genre: Antichrist, Atheist Character, Athiest isn't Athiest for long, Biblical Apocalypse, Biblical References, Blasphemy, Damned Vampires, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Gen, Heaven, Hell, Hellhounds, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Characters, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Not Beta Read, Original Fiction, Pansexual Character, Prophecies aren't helpful, Prophecy, Purgatory, Romance, Satanist Characters, Souled Vampire(s), Supernatural Elements, Undamned Vampires, Vampire Hunters, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7840237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayTheGay/pseuds/FayTheGay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Blood Moon was approaching, the world was great, then the Predali arrived and screwed it all up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, before this story begins, be warned that the characters spend a lot of time talking about religion seeing as this story is a pre-blibcal apocalypse story. A lot of the characters see the devil as the good guy and talk down about God and all those fun things. That being said, I have no intentions of apologizing because I myself am not really a religious person but I figured it is fair that you be warned. With that said, enjoy.

**Blood.** That was the only word that described the scene around me. It covered my bedroom everywhere from the beige rug on my floor to the wolf posters I had hung on my walls. I was sitting in my bed and _she_ was sitting in front of me. Her caramel brown skin and black hair were vaguely lit by the dim lamp next to my bed. All I could do was watch her. Protruding from her top teeth and poking into her bottom lips were sharpened canines. This was no shock to me and every basic instinct told me to run from this creature, this vampire. My heart had kept me with her after all this time, made me ignore my human instinct of _run_.

She took my hands, had we been this close before? We were centimeters away from each other now, her green cat eyes almost glowing in the darkness.

“Andria.” Her voice was a purr and I knew I needed to run. I was entranced.

“Destiny.” My voice cracked, I was terrified. I knew she was a huntress but something about her was off.

“You have to tell me the truth. No more hiding.” I knew what she was asking of me but something made me hold my tongue. What was the relevance? She would break my heart. “You have to open yourself to me.”

I didn’t move, I didn’t speak, she searched my face then she was kissing me. It was all it took and I collapsed into her. She wrapped her arms around me.

“Andria!” That voice, not right in the scene. I blinked and Destiny was gone. No!

“Destiny!”

“Wake up!” I blinked as light washed over me, where was I? “Now! You’re going to be late!” I focused on my room, awakening into reality.

That dream had been so vivid. I groaned and rolled onto my side to see Destiny sitting in my desk chair playing on my computer.

“Morning, sunshine.” She said as she turned to look at me. 


	2. BLOOD MOON

“What do you want from me?” I grimaced and I struggled to sit up, I looked carefully around my room. There was a door next to my desk with an old desktop and several knickknacks on it, next to the desk was the door that opened to my closet, my bed was below the window that was letting in blinding sunlight. The sunlight wasn’t lethal to vampires, it just made them practically human. They were forced to feed at night because of this.

“What I always want from you.” Her voice was nearly a purr, alluring, drawing me in, I turned my eyes on her, her grin showed me she was joking with me but it still sent my baser instincts running in terror.

Destiny was a vampire. Since I was human, I was a meal for her, most of the time. Feeding on me daily wasn’t an option so she occasionally would hunt other humans and, unfortunately, if she fed on me more than twice per week it could kill either me or her. Except during a Blood Moon.

Vampires are capable of changing humans, they have to do a sort of ritual to prepare us for it, there’s a time frame in which humans recover from whatever is running through their veins from the vampire’s fangs. If the vampire doesn’t exchange blood with the human after breaking the safeguard on that time frame the human will die _but_ if the vampire does choose to exchange blood with the human on the next full moon the vampire will die and the human will become immortal. There was an exception to this rule however.

If a vampire prepares a human for a change before a Blood Moon they will not die in the process. That is Destiny’s intentions for me, on the next Blood Moon she wishes to make me immortal.

“Andria.” She was in front of me now waving her hand. “For the love of Satan if you don’t knock this daydreaming crap off soon I will be forced to kill you because you’re too much of an airhead to walk the Earth.”

Now my instincts told me to grab a sharp wooden object and drive it through her heart. I frowned.

“I was thinking about some things.” I mumbled as I got up, putting on my glasses and seeing her clearly in her full perfection. Her hair was braided back at the front to keep her hair out of her eyes and her green eyes were human as they could be seeing as it was daytime. She was wearing a crimson red t-shirt with black skinny jeans. I couldn’t see her feet but I knew they were bare, she didn’t wear shoes unless she intended on extensive human contact.

“If it’s that godawful poetry crap you are writing I am not interested.”

“I was thinking of a poem about the Blood Moon.”

“Allow me to waste my time to show my level of interest in it.” She paused for a second then sat back down. “As I was saying while you were off in daydream land. One of the Predali arrived in town this morning so start packing. Your mom is about to receive a _very_ generous job offer to move again.”

 _Predali_. The name made me sick to my stomach. Destiny had been part of an upper class vampire “family”. Several years ago she went rogue and has been hiding from them. They’re basically a family of vampires who have taken the position as the vampire vigilantes and hunt down rogue vampires to return them “home”. If they learned of Destiny’s intentions of changing me I’d be brutally murdered by them or they’d starve her and have her kill me, just as a reminder to other rogues who plan on making vampires on the Blood Moon.

“That’s great.” I walked over to my desk and could vaguely hear her sniffing me as I gathered my books and homework from the top of my desk. I couldn’t doubt that if she’d been able to use her fangs she’d have bit me. If the Predali were in town she probably hadn’t fed on anyone in the area last night I was well aware she’d skipped dinner the night before. My legs had me rushing to the door the second I had gathered my stuff into my backpack. “Are you going to school today?”

“I can’t, I’ve got to pack up my stuff since I’ve got to be out before tonight when they can track me.” I frowned.

“When will I see you again?”

“Hopefully this weekend. The offer your mom received is too generous to not take.” I heard my mom’s footsteps outside the door.

“I will see you again soon, Andy.” I slipped out the door shutting it behind me, nearly running into my mom.

“Andria Lucille.” She had her arms crossed over her chest. “Who was in there with you?” I looked over my mom’s slender figure, her dark brown hair was packed into a tight bun on the top of her head, her blue eyes were searching me.

“No one, I was on the phone with Destiny.”

She frowned. As far as she knew we had left Destiny behind on one of our many moves over the past few years since I met her. Little did she know Destiny was why we were constantly moving and she had followed us each time. “Well, after school today you may want to begin packing again.”

I hid my excitement, of course I was thrilled because I’d known this was coming. “Are we moving _again_?” I made myself sound annoyed, as far as she was concerned I hated having to move all the time.

She turned and headed down the hallway that lead into the living room. “You should really get a new friend. You have developed a serious attitude since you met that girl.” I followed her down the hall, I didn’t pay attention to the small couch and TV in the living room, I just took off out the front door that was close to the end of the hallway. I pulled open the door.

“Well if we were in the same place for longer than a year at a time I would.” I almost was yelling when I stepped out the door and slammed it behind me. It was sunny out, spring was finally making its appearance in April. Normal parents wouldn’t make their kids move this close to the end of school, especially senior year. Prom was coming up but I had no intensions of going before the move, it was a guaranteed not happening event within the moving time Destiny had told me.

I walked down the street not paying attention to the small houses around me. I was lost in my own head. The poem about the Blood Moon was bothering me, I had written poetry most of my life but occasionally I would get stuck on a singular line.

 

Oh my Blood Moon

High in the sky

Your glow so dull

Somehow so bright

 

It needed an end but I couldn’t figure it out. I thought about the final line, trying to place the needed line.

“If I was a real threat during the day you’d be easy prey.” I jumped at Destiny’s voice, focusing on my surroundings. Yet again my instincts made me want to flee.

I turned my head to her, she was walking next to me and God knows how long she’d been walking there.

“I thought you weren’t going to school.”

“I’m not. I just felt I should walk you to school.”

I didn’t question it. The more time she spent around me the more I could trust that she wouldn’t bail on me before she had to change me. I could understand where she was coming from in not wanting to change me. If she changed me she lost her guaranteed meal and she –potentially- lost me. Vampires are creatures of Hell, created vampires didn’t have the same humanity that born vampires develop and if not well prepared the human could lose themselves completely. Of course under normal circumstances the vampire didn’t get to see what their creation became.

I looked at her, she looked lost in thoughts. “What’re you thinking about?”

She paused. “I’ve told you about vampire mates before, haven’t I?”

“Not really. You mentioned yours but never really went into it.”

“Vampire mates have strong telepathic bonds. When choosing our mate, it is lifelong and sometimes one side loses interest in the other. I lost interest in my mate but he didn’t lose interest in me. I think he is travelling with the Predali. His telepathic voice is so much stronger than it has ever been.” She sounded almost…distraught… “Andria, the more he talks to me the more I wonder if I made a mistake.”

I stopped walking, she stopped with me, we weren’t far from the school now but at this point school was a technicality.

“Destiny.” I paused and looked away from her.

“Andria, I promised you I would change you on the blood moon, however.” She paused. “How do I put this lightly? As you know some people change when they are changed, we cannot let that fact go.”

“I wasn’t letting it go. Destiny, how many years have you been in my life, telling me how miserable you were, how long have you talked terribly about them?”

“Four years, five months, and three days. It has been five years, five months, and four days since I met you. It has been eleven years, ten months, and fourteen days since I left everything I knew. I count the days because after a few hundred years there is nothing else you can do. Every one of those days I have wondered the same thing. Did I make a mistake by leaving them? Should I have tried to fix things with my mate? Does my brother miss me?”

“Brother?”

“Cre, have I never told you of him before?”

“No you haven’t. I had no idea you had a brother.”

“Well I have a younger brother, his name is Cre. We were created on the same night, the same vampire made us. We were always really close, always very alike, we became vampire hunters together then…one night one caught us…kept us captive for a while…suicidal vampire who couldn’t kill himself the traditional way used us to kill himself. Leaving two spawns to walk the Earth. My mate found us roaming the streets, we grew close and became mates.”

She sighed and looked behind her. “Needless to say, after we became mated my brother and I grew apart. In fact he left before I did. Jay told him to mate with his daughter and when Cre refused he was chased out.”

“Have you seen him since you left?”

“No I haven’t. I am not even certain if he is alive. You need to go to school, I will see you soon.”

She seemed to hesitate before she turned and left me standing in the middle of the sidewalk. I watched her walk down the street and turn a corner.

I groaned and turned, heading towards the school.

 

I stepped into my first hour class holding the tardy slip the office had given me in a tight fist, of course I should’ve been happy, she hadn’t bailed on me. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Every second spent here was another second the _Predali_ could snag hold of her and kill her, and quite possibly, me.

I looked up and was surprised to see a dark skinned kid with light brown eyes and short black hair introducing himself at the front of the room, Mr. Rucker was sitting at his desk, giving me a look that told me to take my seat. I sat down at the back of the room in stupid desks that have never seemed to evolve. We were in highschool, why did we need to sit in these junky desks?

“Since you decided to laze your way into class late _again_ , Andria. This is our new student, his name is Cayden.”

“Good to know.” I mumbled under my breath as I pulled my notebook out of my backpack.

“Thank you for introducing yourself, Cayden. You can take the seat next to Andria here. Maybe she’ll be kind enough to guide you to your next class and learn about you since she failed to arrive on time.” I clenched my teeth, yes, exactly what I wanted to do on my last day here. Guide a new kid around the school.

“I’d love to be late to Mrs. Turner’s class to show the new brat around.” I said it sweetly.

“Open your text books, Cayden take your seat.” I mentally mocked him. _Bleh bleh bleh bleh_. I watched out of the corner of my eyes as Cayden walked down the center of the row, taking the seat next to me. Several of the other students were watching me.

“Am I wearing a stupid red nose? Pay attention to our _wonderful_ teacher.” I rolled my eyes as several of the girls looked away and started whispering to each other.

“Do you normally have this much of an attitude?”

“Only on Fridays.” I sighed and stared at the poem in front of me.

 

Each night I wonder

Each night I stare

I hope and pray

To be out there

The moon cries out

Screams and pleas

Because it knows

It’s what I need

 

“You aren’t that bad at poetry.” I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes, if looks could kill I probably would have killed him.

“Do you mind _not_ reading over my shoulder?” Any other person and Mr. Rucker would’ve gotten onto us for talking but he must have been enjoying my torture because he continued talking about some sort of science garbage that I didn’t comprehend nor care about.

“My uncle was a poet, I think it was my uncle. My sister hates poetry.”

I sighed an exasperated sigh before standing and speaking loudly. “Since he won’t shut his mouth can I just take him and tour him around the school? You know I won’t pay any attention to your class anyway.”

He waved his hand in an excusing gesture, not letting up on his ramblings about whatever, I actually had a B in this class because Destiny did all my homework and occasionally would sneak in to change my test answers. That was probably why he hated me so much, I was passing his class and paid zero attention. I shoved my spiral into my backpack before pulling it onto my back and heading out the door, followed by Cayden.

When we were out of the classroom I turned to face him and froze. I hadn’t really _looked_ at him but something about him sent a chill down my spine and he looked so much like _her_. It wasn’t possible of course, he was probably a descendant of her family or something.

“What is your deal?”

“What’s _my_ deal?” I almost growled at him, way too much time around Destiny. “I don’t want to tour some new kid around the school on my last day of school. I want to cause trouble and piss off teachers.”

He chuckled and somehow that lightened my mood. “Look, An. I don’t need a tour around the school.”

“Do _not_ call me An.” My first boyfriend had called me that, he was actually the only reason I was out when Destiny found me. I shook away the memory.

“Anyways, _An._ ” I glared at him. “I was actually just curious, I have a tendency to do that. I didn’t mean to upset you. I liked it so I felt I should say something.” I couldn’t help but smile at that. I had never shown anyone my poetry since Destiny was my only friend and she couldn’t care less about it. “I’ve always had a strong connection with the moon so that one really peeked my interest. Does it have a name?”

“I haven’t come up with one.”

“How about ‘Free Me’?” I scrunched my eyebrows at that name, it fit what I had felt when I wrote it. I had wanted the full moon to take me, I had almost begged Destiny to change me. But the words didn’t really imply that, how had he known?

“That may be a good name for it, how did you come up with the name?”

“I look at the moon every night and beg it to take me away to another planet.” He seemed to zone out before he blinked and grinned. “Anyways, care to show me to my classes?”

I blinked rapidly, I’d forgotten we were in the school. I’d forgotten I was alive. I had wandered into a dazed state. “Yeah, I mean yes I will.” I shook my head and turned away from him, almost hesitantly. I didn’t ever wander into that dazed state unless I was talking to Destiny. That chill down my spine and my instincts making me hesitate to turn my back to him were two very dangerous signs. On top of that he had very obviously talked about the moon and its freedoms.

Was he _Predali_? I didn’t have a way of knowing and if he was a vampire and he was looking for Destiny...or he could just be a vampire who wandered into my school looking for easy blood. I was pretty certain vampires could tell if a human had been fed on before. I realized my heart was pounding in my ears and I had to avert focus from the situation.

“Who’s your next teacher?” I swallowed.

“Why don’t you just look at my schedule?” He put a hand on my shoulder and I froze, I could feel the heat of his skin through my shirt, definitely vampire. Who was he though?

“That’s a great idea.”

“An.” He paused. “I’m not stupid, I may be somewhat human in the day but I’m not stupid. The second I saw you I knew. The question is, of course, how did you know?”

He turned me and grabbed hold of my arms, pinning me to the lockers in seconds, my backpack was an unfortunate barricade between my back and the metal behind me, even if he was human during the day, he still had some baser vampire abilities, he was stronger and he pulled me into another trance, I wouldn’t be able to yell for someone in this state.

“Please.” I barely whispered the word.

“You do know.” He chuckled lightly. “How do you know?”

“I’m a vampire hunter.” I fought his trance, my voice full of the lie I was telling.

“Not a very good one. You got caught.” He chuckled. “That’s assuming you weren’t full of it. You can resist me. Granted its daytime but still, that’s fascinating.”

“I’m with the _Predali_.” The next lie I said sounded honest as daylight. “There were rumors of a runaway vampire being in the school so I was sent to infiltrate.” He let go of me at this and backed off of me.

“You’re kidding me?”

“Does it look like I’m kidding?” I glared at him, the trance was gone, I could full on lie without a worry of him picking it up.

“No you don’t.” He ran his fingers through his hair and growled a very inhuman growl. “Who are you looking for?”

“I don’t know who, for all I know it could be you.” The lie came smoothly now. I was content with this story.

“They sent you in without any information on who you’re searching for?”

I laughed lightly. “It’s a bit above my pay grade.”

“What is your pay grade?”

“I get taken by the moon.”

His eyes darkened. “I knew that was what your poem was about. There was no way it wasn’t.” He looked down the hall. “So what exactly do they have you do?”

“I hang out in the school and interact with everyone, anyone who does what you did to me I am supposed to report to them when they get here so they can check.”

“Have you found anyone?”

I stayed quiet, watching him.

“I’m going to assume you aren’t going to tell me.” He sighed and shook his head. “So you’re leaving?”

“I am.” I almost mentioned my mom’s job offer then realized that was a bad idea.

“That’s unfortunate. I would’ve liked to get to know you better.” A sad expression covered his face. If that had been said by Destiny it would’ve been a joke, I was a very big exception to her not liking humans and that was only because she knew me. “I suppose you could tour me around the school, or I could tap into that little mind of yours and learn for myself.”

“Could you now?” I tilted my head curiously. Destiny had never mentioned telepathic links until today when she was talking about her mate.

“You are being paid by the moon and you don’t even know that? Look, how about you show me around and I tell you more about vampires.” He said that dangerously loud, Destiny hardly ever used the word. I must have been staring because he rolled his eyes, “for God’s sake, An. It’s the twenty first century. I say vampire and people jump to the conclusion that I’m into that trash supernatural fiction.”

Yet another thing I hardly ever heard Destiny say, God was a term that had left me with a sour taste in my mouth since I was really young and according to Destiny Satan was the creator of vampires so, her being very loyal to the father of their kind, used his name in the place of God. I had developed that habit actually and it had gotten me into trouble more than once.

“Look. I am aware of the _Predali_ and ‘their ways’ but you are human, I assume that since you are human you haven’t spent much time around them. You should know by now, based on the position you hold, my kind prefers to act as though they are normal during the daytime to avoid detection.” He shook his head. “Of course I don’t know why you work for the _Predali_ when, come the blood moon, any vampire you have turned into them would have willingly changed you.” He turned and headed down the hall. I followed behind him.

“How about we leave school and you can tell me more?” He paused and shook his head, turning to look at me.

“You tell me you work for _Predali_ , telling me you are looking for a vampire, then invite me off the school grounds.” I opened my mouth to defend myself but he chuckled and continued, interrupting me. “Though you are strong against my mind I really doubt you are strong enough to pull me into a dark corner. I’ve taken these classes enough that I’m far from worried about not learning anything.” He grinned and I couldn’t help but smile, Destiny had told me all vampires were very cruel towards humans but this one didn’t act like he was like that. Who knew, maybe it was an act? Once I started thinking about it I realized I needed to be careful.

“Now that I think about it, why should I trust you?”

“So we are at a standstill here then.”

“It would appear so.”

I met his eyes, I knew he was dangerous, he was a solid threat to my very existence. I searched his eyes but they shared nothing, vampires were hard to read if they were older. Destiny was impossible to read and this vampire was no different.

“Andria Tyler.” I turned as the principal, Mrs. Redeye, came strutting down the hall like she owned the place, she was irritating and a drunk. I had had a lot of teachers who had it in for me and even more principals and school counselors but Mrs. Redeye hated me with a lot of passion, Destiny had nosed around in documents and learned why, the current job position my mom held was supposed to have been hers. Just my luck. School principal who had gone to med school.

“Hello, Mrs. Redeye.” I glared at her.

“Would you care to share with me what you are doing fraternizing in the hallway?”

“Well, Mr. Rucker requested I tour this new student around the school.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“So I suppose if I were to ask him he would tell me this same information?”

“Considering he hates me, as you very well know, I really doubt he will share that information with you. So let’s make this simple, I am going to leave the school grounds now, you are probably going to contact my parents, and, since this is my last day here, it doesn’t matter and won’t matter.”

“I believe you need to come with me, Andria.”

“I don’t intend on coming with you.”

I turned away from her and was facing Cayden.

“Welcome to our school. You have found yourself entering into this school with a bad example.”

Cayden chuckled. “Ma’am, with the utmost respect, I promise you. I am the bad influence on this lovely girl.” I turned and she was staring at him. I shook my head and laughed lightly. “Now, ma’am, turn around and leave us alone.”

Mrs. Redeye blinked and turned around, walking back down the hall from the way she had come from. I looked back over at Cayden who was grinning.

When he looked at me I shook my head “ _What?_ ”

“Mind control is not the solution to everything.” When he raised a questioning brow at me I just said, “Let’s just get out of here.” laughing lightly.


	3. THE FIGHT

We walked down the street, he was in front of me, we weren’t far from a small park that he had happily told me he knew how to get to after his dinner last night. I wondered if pride in meals was a thing all vampires did. Destiny was always eager to tell me about her most recent hunt as well.

“You’re staring at me.”

“I am not.” I said, feeling myself blush. Of course I had been. I wasn’t consciously doing it of course, I had been on autopilot lost in my thoughts.

“Yes you were.” He didn’t turn to face me, he didn’t need to.

“You don’t walk like a vampire.”

“It’s daytime.”

“All the vampires I’ve ever met still have that vampiric grace during the day.” Okay, another lie. I’d only ever met one vampire and that was Destiny. She walked like a cat though. I’d assumed all vampires were that way.

“Maybe I’ll explain to you when we arrive at the park.”

We didn’t say anything the rest of our walk, when we got there I looked at the playground. It was a small park with a single swingset, a basic slide, and a picnic table. We settled down at the picnic table and he chuckled, shaking his head.

“What’s so funny?”

“Have you ever sat down at a table with a cow?”

I couldn’t help but giggle at the image of me sitting at a picnic table with a cow in the seat in front of me. Of course my basic human instincts told me to find the nearest tree branch off the ground and stab him with it.

“I really hate that you’re leaving, do you know where they’ll be taking you next?”

I paused, where was I going? I hadn’t even asked. “I don’t know. They didn’t tell me.”

He looked thoughtful. “How about this, I’ve never sat down with dinner.” I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up now. “And apparently you have no idea what you’re getting into. Let’s swap information. You ask a question, I ask one. Back and forth until we decide things have gotten too personal.” He smiled mischievously.

I hesitated, he hadn’t caught one of my lies yet, I could probably get away with this. “Okay.”

“I already asked a question.”

I paused, what would I ask? I had never really questioned Destiny about this stuff.

“What is sunrise like?”

He was silent for a moment as he looked up at the sky. “It’s a strange experience…like…” He paused. “The sun isn’t kind to us.” His gaze moved to me. “Have you ever been in a room where you could just _feel_ the tension in the air?”

I nodded, thinking of multiple encounters with my mother’s exes. She’d always managed to date men who hated me. The tension was always thick in the air.

“Well it’s that feeling, constantly. And during the transition from night to sunrise, losing our fangs. When they imbed themselves in our gums, it’s one of the most complex feelings. Not because we really _feel_ it but because we _know_ we’re losing an important part of ourselves. Our survival instincts make us want to force them out but we have no control over that.”

“It sounds strange.” I looked towards one of the nearby trees. A squirrel was running up the side of it.

It took a moment before he spoke up, “My turn.” My gaze moved to him. “Why did you decide you wanted to change?”

“That’s right to the point.” I paused. “I have never felt comfortable in this body…” I struggled with how to explain this, this _was_ a question I’d been asked by Destiny and I told her the easy answer. I told her “I just do.”. It was pretty obvious Cayden wouldn’t accept that. “Growing up I was always an outcast, causing problems. My mom called me her little Hellion. It was like trouble was imbedded in my DNA.” I sighed. “I got into it bad with my boyfriend a few years back and met my first vampire. She had been hunting, I had been out with him.” I swallowed. “I always had to act stronger than I was and Jackson felt like it was time I got put in my place. Of course, I was strong. I exercised and built up muscle so I wouldn’t just be talk. I fought hard but he was stronger than me. She saved my life, he had a knife to my throat when she took him down. He was two or three years older than me.” I shook off the memory, my voice cracking a bit. The encounter had been horrifying. He had almost killed me. Destiny had saved my life. “This vampire…introduced me to the Predali.” Now began the lie. Could I keep my story straight? “This was the first time I had ever felt comfortable around anyone. I felt at home with them and I _knew_. I knew I was destined to become a vampire. I requested it and was told it would happen during the Blood Moon, if I could prove my loyalty.”

“How many years have you been waiting?”

“Six years.”

“It sounds like you’re being led on.” He rested his hand on mine, I didn’t even realize I had both my hands lying on the table in front of us. “Andria.”

I didn’t look at him, I couldn’t.

“Can we talk about something else? Please.” I pulled my hands away and put them in my lap.

He frowned. “You seem like a really good person, I’m certain that the Predali could have used any of the vampires that you’ve caught to turn you.” Oh no. Cover, I need to cover. I was caught up in a lie to a vampire. _Oh what a tangled web we weave._

The problem was I didn’t know _how_ to cover, I had gotten good at lying to people but people didn’t ask questions like that, or did they? Maybe I just hadn’t been around people who cared to pry.

“I’ve had them delay. I didn’t want to be turned when I was a kid. Then a few months ago, the vampire who saved me offered to change me at the blood moon. That’s why I’m still human.” _Please please please go with it._

It was obvious he didn’t really believe what I’d said but he, thankfully, didn’t push. When he nodded I asked my next question, “So where were you born?”

He paused at the question. “I don’t really remember. I’ve lived a long time. How about you, where were you born?”

“Missouri. Kansas City, Missouri. I don’t remember my life there because we moved to Colorado Springs when I was two.”

“Where are your parents now?”

I hesitated for a second. “I ran away from my mom’s home when I met the Predali. Started living with them.”

“What about your dad?”

I bit my lip nervously. My conception had not been consensual. It wasn’t the exactly a great story to tell but I was talking to a creature that took lives.

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“My mom was a rape victim. She had just graduated college, was working for a medical center somewhere in Canada. She moved to Kansas when she found out she was pregnant.” I sighed and laid my head on the table. “She was a very religious person at the time but drifted from religion when her life started going downhill. She didn’t understand how God could let her end up pregnant by those means then let her life go to the pits. Of course she was pretty fortunate. She was a spoiled child so, she got upset that her life wasn’t perfect.”

“Your mom sounds like a good person.” He chuckled and I couldn’t help but laugh. My mom was selfish, not a great person, in fact her selfishness had worked out greatly to my advantages when I’d met Destiny. All of her job offers had helped with her greediness, as long as the pay was even a tiny bit better than what she was making she would take the job.

“So how about your family? You mentioned a sister?”

“Are you hungry?” I frowned when he changed the subject, but I was hungry. I needed to eat. I would bring her up again later. “There’s a steakhouse nearby, do you mind?”

“A place full of humans eating blood enhancing foods? Not at all.” He grinned and got up.

“We don’t-“

“I was kidding. Not like I could go on a bloodlust driven rampage if I wanted to.” He grinned, exposing his teeth, obviously showing his lack of fangs.

 

.-~**~-.

 

As we went down the city streets, when we were not far from the steakhouse, I got this weird feeling of I needed to ditch him. It wasn’t the initial, you’re around a predator, feeling I normally got when I was around Destiny. It was the _you need to bolt or things are going to go bad_ sort of feeling _._ I hesitated, actually stopped. He must have noticed because he turned to me.

“Are you alright?”

“I just remembered, I promised someone I would meet them before I left.”

He raised an eyebrow at me and I saw her. My mother was standing in front of a sandwich shop staring at me, if looks could kill I would be dead. _Shit._

“I didn’t scare you off, did I?”

I looked at him, bewildered. Him scare me off? As if. I had my mother to deal with as well as the Predali no doubt searching for Destiny nearby. “No you didn’t. Look, I really need to go. I’ll call you later.”

“What’s your number.”

“Five-oh-five-five-five-five-one-three-three-seven.” I spouted the number then pushed past him.

He grabbed my shoulder. “I will see you again?”

 _Oh for Satan’s sake._ “Yes, you will.” He let go, I didn’t turn to look at him as I walked down the street and pushed past my mom into the sandwich place. She wasted no time in following me in and grabbing hold of my arm.

“Andria Lucille Tyler!” I yanked away and turned to face her, I searched the street behind her out of the corner of my eye, praying he hadn’t followed me. I didn’t see him so I felt safe.

“Yes?” I asked, feigning innocence.

“You are supposed to be in school!” She made another grab for my arm and I stepped back.

“I know this. I had to argue with Mrs. Redeye to get off the property.”

She stared at me. So apparently the school never bothered telling her how much I acted out. Interesting.

“Give me your phone.”

Now I was the one staring, did she honestly think she could pull the parent card now?

“I pay for my phone. You aren’t taking it.”

“You are living under my roof, you are going to give me the phone and then go back to school.”

“It’s not like I’m going back Monday.”

“Actually you are.”

Just like that, my world collapsed around me. “What are you talking about?” I barely choked the question out.

_Oh no. Oh crap. I lied to that vampire. And Destiny. She’s going to be gone. The Predali. Oh Satan. Oh please._

“I thought about it. Can we sit?” She sighed and headed to one of the tables, I swallowed and followed, sitting across from her.

“I realized how selfish I have been most of your childhood. I really had no right to blame you for what happened to me. I was blind sighted by the money but that’s not fair for you. You’re almost out of school.” She looked away from me. “Look, I know I’m a terrible mother. I don’t treat you well, I’ve made you move from school to school just so I can have more money. It’s not right.”

 _What are we going to do? Tell her to take the job, we’ll be fine with school?_ “I don’t care if we move. When I snapped this morning it was unwarranted.”

She stared at me, “who was that you were walking with?”

I hesitated, “Cayden.” _Screw it._ “My ex-boyfriend.”

“That’s why you want to move?”

“He convinced me to bail on class.” She searched my face, _please believe the lie._

“I can’t guarantee they’ll give me back the offer but I’ll call. For now, Andria. You need to go back to school.”

I frowned, my mind wandered again.

“Andria.” I blinked. “You need to go back to school. I can drive you.”

“It’s fine mom. I can walk. It’s not far.”

She hesitated then nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry.” I stood up and turned away from her, hesitating.

“It’s okay.” Then I walked out the door without looking back.

 

.-~**~-.

 

I did end up going back to school, I didn’t see Cayden when I got back so I had to assume he didn’t come back. I wouldn’t have done it if I had had anything else to do. I had tried to call Destiny on the way back but the phone had gone straight to voicemail each time which stressed me out beyond belief. I had sent her a few texts as well, telling her it was urgent.

When the final bell rang I was out of the school as quick as possible, I felt them following me as I walked towards my home. My senses were a lot more in tune than most humans just because of the time I’d spent around Destiny. I listened to them snicker, I finally decided, _screw it_ , and stopped. I turned to face my stalkers.

“Hi An.”

“What do you want, Dalton?” There were five people, Dalton who was a bronze skinned, black haired, wanna be rich kid, he wore some of the most ridiculous clothing I had ever seen, Maddie wore slutty clothing most of the time, she was a natural redhead like myself, with a freckled face but her larger size was an obvious difference between the two of us. Marit was your typical shy girl who stuck to the side of them like glue as protection. Lucas and Sam were twin brothers, almost identical with light blonde hair and blue eyes, in fact the only major difference between the two was Lucas’s long hair. I normally had Destiny by my side so I was sure they saw this as their opportunity to come after me.

“Where’s your guard dog at, four eyes?” I stiffened at Maddie’s words, I had been made fun of for my glasses multiple times. I didn’t really care but when these guys started rolling out the insults it was obvious they weren’t here for a casual conversation.

“She’s not here.” I took a step back which they immediately stepped forward to maintain the distance between us.

“That’s such a shame. Black beauty would’ve been so much fun to tussle with.”

“What is your _problem_?” I stepped forward, I could deal with insults hurled my way. Destiny on the other hand, they shouldn’t have touched the subject. They didn’t move back, we were inches apart from each other now. I knew I would get my ass kicked if we fought, five versus one wasn’t very good odds and I didn’t usually have to defend myself. Even then I was still capable of defending myself.

“My _problem_ is little girls who don’t know how to defend themselves. I bet she doesn’t even care about you. I bet your mamma pays her to keep you from getting picked on in school.”

I threw the first punch, square in Maddie’s jaw. I apparently hit her with enough force that it knocked her back. I ducked down as Dalton went to grab me and used my new angle to grab onto someone’s leg. Probably Maddie’s. Using the grip I pulled her flat on her back. The problem was there were five of them. Maddie was down but three of them were completely ready while Dalton was readying himself back after his missed grab, I backed up as I rose back to my feet, I noticed that Marit had backed up, _thank you shy girl_.

Of course I didn’t get that lucky, while I managed to dodge another grab from Dalton I did not have chance to dodge Lucas who grabbed hold of my hair and pulled me forward, very weak tactic but two could play at this game. As I fell forward I grabbed hold of his hair, pulling him down with me. I landed, just barely turning my head to the side before I hit the ground. Of course I didn’t get that lucky as I heard the sound of glass breaking after I felt my glasses fall off my face. I opened my eyes to a blurry sight, I had landed on the right side of my face. Lucas had landed on top of me but I could feel him getting up.

Dalton grabbed hold of my shoulder and pulled me over onto my back. I felt someone’s weight as they sat down on my chest. I blinked and looked at her, Maddie looked angry, absolutely furious. I struggled and fought against her weight but of course it was worthless.

The first punch didn’t hurt as bad as I’d thought it would but it still hurt like hell. I continued struggling but felt myself falling into darkness as she continued to hit me.

 

.-~**~-.

 

I slowly came into consciousness at the sound of my phone ringing, _what time is it?_ The sun was down. I groaned and tried to look at my surroundings, it was then I realized my right eye was swollen shut. From what I could tell I wasn’t in the street where I’d been when they’d beat the crud out of me, I couldn’t tell for sure but I was pretty sure I was in someone’s backyard. I struggled to grab my phone out of my pocket and answer it.

“Hello?” Oh god, my head.

“Andria, where the hell _are_ you?” _Mom? Oh great._

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” She was mad.

“I mean I got my ass kicked after I got out of school and have been unconscious for Satan knows how many hours and I can’t see a thing because they broke my glasses and one of my eyes is swollen shut. But thank you for asking what happened.”

Dead silence on the other end of the line. I struggled to sit up. I could vaguely see my backpack a few inches away so I grabbed for it, managing to actually get it. I pulled it towards myself.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m more blind than usual but I’m great.” I said it with very thick sarcasm, was she serious? Am I okay?”

“You don’t know where you are?”

“I’m in some backyard I think. They might have dragged me here after I passed out. I am going to call a friend from school to come get me.”

I hung up before she could respond. It was times like this I was very grateful for a flip phone, I didn’t need to see to dial a number. It rang three times before she answered.

“Hello?”

“Destiny?”

“I can’t talk right now.” Her voice was panicked. “How did they _find_ me?”

“Destiny, wait. Is it the _Predali?_ ”

“I have to go, Andria, you need to run.” I heard a scream from the other line and a thud as her phone hit the ground.

“Destiny!”

I held the phone to my ear, praying to God and Satan she was okay. Please please please. After a few seconds of silence, I heard the sound of the phone being picked up.

“Whoever is on the other line of this phone. You are not safe, you are next.” _Click._ I was frozen, oh no. Oh no…

After a few seconds my phone rang, I quickly answered it hoping it was Destiny, telling me this was some sick joke. It wasn’t.

“Andria?”

Cayden. Now was _not_ the time. “What do you want?” My voice was full of defeat.

“Are you okay?”

No I wasn’t, the girl I love was probably dead and now I was on the Predali’s hit list. “I’m fine.”

“You’re horrible at lying.”

“I got the shit beat out of me. I can’t see a thing. Can you come find me?” I laid back and closed my eyes, I couldn’t walk or stand and my head hurt from trying to see through my broken vision.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Did I care? Not really. I dropped the phone at my side and closed my eyes. Oh my head.

 

Fist to my skull

Fist to her face

Foot to my chest

Foot to his leg

It hurt at its best

But hurt wasn’t pain

 

I felt him arrive, or I assumed it was him. Of course I was pretty sure I was covered in blood so with all my luck it could’ve been one of the _Predali._

“Andria?” It was him. “Holy crap.” I could feel my hair standing on the back of my neck again, telling me to flee.

“How bad is it?”

“I’ve done worse.” I could hear it in his voice. He hadn’t fed before he got here.

“Why didn’t you feed before you got here?”

“How did you know?”

“Your voice.” I finally opened my eye, I could sort of see him, mainly his cat eyes, they left my human instincts fleeing.

“I’ll be fine.” He knelt down. “How bad is your eyesight?”

“It was worse when I was younger.” I closed my eyes again. “How bad am I?”

“What do you remember?”

“Maddie beating my face in, she knocked me out.”

“You didn’t wake up to the cuts?”

 _Cuts?_ “What cuts?”

“Your face got cut up by something.”

“Could it have been the glass from my glasses?”

“It might have been, what happened?”

I let out a breath of air before answering carefully, “Normally I have someone walk home with me, she wasn’t here today so I had to walk alone. There’s a group of people who don’t like me, they saw I was alone and followed me.”

“How many?”

“Five.”

“How many did it take for them to take you down?”

“Three of them.” I grinned, it hurt a bit but I couldn’t help it. I realized why he was asking, if it had been just one of them I would have easily won that. They had to have several people in order to take me down.

“I think your nose is broken. Do you want me to set it for you?”

“I’ll do it later.” It was obvious why I said that to both of us, at night they were stronger, if he didn’t judge properly he could easily cause more damage than was already done.

“Can you stand?”

“I think so. I just can’t see.” I opened my eye slightly and sighed. “Will you be my eyes?” I closed it again.

“That sounds corny as hell.”

“Just…”

“Yes, I can be your eyes.” He laughed, I felt his hand touch mine, the sudden heat made me realize I was cold. He grabbed hold of one hand then the other, slowly helping me to my feet.

“My phone…”

“I’ve got it, and your backpack.”

I thought back to the scream on the other end when I had talked to her and winced. Could I do anything? I could tell the truth to him but…would he kill me if he knew the Predali wasn’t protecting me? Would he bail if he learned the Predali were around? I decided for now I wouldn’t bring it up. _Oh Destiny. I’m so sorry._

I wrapped my arm around his shoulder, I could feel my backpack draped across his shoulders. It was weird, it had been a long time since I’d been blinded like this. The world was so different. With my eyes closed the world was so much more hyper-aware to make up for the fact that I couldn’t see.

“I need to know where you live.”

“I’ll lead you there.”


	4. THREE DIFFERENT

I was not looking forward to getting home, I didn’t want to explain to Cayden why I had lied to him about my mom and I did not want to try and explain to my mom his eyes.

When we arrived at my house I had him pull my keys out of my pocket and unlock the door.

“Andria!” Oh great. I could feel the change in his demeanor as my mom entered the entrance. “Oh for God’s sake what happened?”

“Where are my spare glasses at?”

“Andria!”

“I told you what happened.”

“You really asked your ex before you asked me?” I could feel him trying not to laugh. I groaned.

“Please. Where are my other glasses?”

I could tell she was mad, I didn’t need to see to know it. “I don’t know, I’ll look for them.” Her voice was defeated. “I didn’t get the offer back by the way.”

“I’m going to take her to her room.”

“Have fun.”

She had gone back to the miserable mom I had known. Too miserable for her own good.

I carefully guided him down the hall to my room, I had to open my semi good eye to make sure I was guiding him properly. He opened my door and helped me into my bed.

“Boyfriend?”

“That’s what you have to ask about?” I closed my eye again and laid back on my pillows.

“Would you rather I ask you about why you lied to me? I assume you did it to keep yourself alive, which is perfectly sensible.”

“I wasn’t lying about the Predali.”

“What part?”

“They are here, they were looking for a vampire.”

“You said ‘were’.”

“They caught her.” I felt him sit down on the bed at the same time I heard footsteps coming down the hall.

“Your mom is coming.”

I heard her step in. “We should really take you to the hospital.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“He should leave.”

“He’s staying.”

“No he isn’t.”

“Give me her glasses and leave us alone. I will leave later.” I heard it in his voice, he’d pulled her into a trance. I felt him get off of the bed. After a couple seconds the door closed and his weight returned to my bed.

“Do you use your abilities to solve all of your problems?”

“Most of them. Here.” I opened my eye as he slipped them on my face. Even if I couldn’t see out of my other eye it was helpful to see my surroundings.

I looked at him. “Can you grab my mirror off my dresser?” I watched him walk over to my dresser and come back.

“So are you going to explain?”

“What part?”

“The beginning.”

“When we were in the classroom I didn’t realize what you were. If I had I would’ve kept my distance.”

“Surely your human instincts warned you.”

“I was in a weird mood. Some of them went off but without the full on knowledge of what you are I just ignored them.” I sighed. “Needless to say, when you asked me, I jumped into the first lie which failed.”

“You are too loud to be a vampire hunter. That was the dead giveaway. The second I saw you I could tell you’d been fed on before, you emitted that. Then you said you were with the Predali.”

“My vampire friend, she had been on the run from them so I knew a lot about them. Do they actually keep humans as pets?”

“Sometimes. Your story held up, if you had been hunting me by all technicalities you would’ve accomplished the task. You got me out into a more private place where I could’ve gotten taken down.”

“Anyways, I had to go with it. When I ditched you earlier…”

“Your mom was at the place down the street.”

“Yeah. I told her you were my ex.” I closed my eye again and sighed. “We were supposed to be moving. My vampire friend, she caught on that the Predali were here. My mom is selfish so she gets job offers she can’t refuse courtesy of my friend. Of course my mom doesn’t know. When I talked to her at that sandwich place she told me we were staying so I panicked and told her you were my ex. That you were causing me trouble and convinced me to ditch school.”

“Makes sense why she was so agitated.” Something occurred to me here. I opened my eye and had to stare at him. How?

“What?”

“How is it your eyes look human?”

“I am wearing contacts. I put them on while we were walking.”

“That is insane.”

Now he was staring.

“We spent forever trying to figure out how to slip her past my mom.”

“And she never thought of contacts?”

“Neither of us did.”

“What happened tonight?”

I shook my head and felt the first tears forming. “I don’t know. After I talked to my mom I called her, hoping she’d answer. I hadn’t been able to get ahold of her while I was heading back to the school so I had assumed she was on a plane to wherever we were going. Her phone had been off. I called her when I woke up and she answered, she told me to run. They found her. How did they find her?” I was crying, I didn’t realize it until I felt his arms around me comforting me and pulling me up so I was sitting.

“She’s alive.”

“How do you _know_ that?”

“That isn’t how the Predali function.” He pulled us apart and grabbed onto my shoulders, making me look at him. “Andria.”

“’Whoever is on the other line of this phone. You are not safe, you are next.’ That’s what they told me.” I remembered the entire situation vividly.

“They won’t get you. Destiny was a lucky break.”

I stiffened. I had never said her name to him. “How did you know her name?”

“I told you, telepathy.”

“Destiny said telepathy only exists in vampire mates.” I scooted back away from him.

“Relax.” He chuckled. “You aren’t my type. I don’t go for redheads. Almost no vampires are telepathic. Even if we are it’s very vague. I only picked up her name because you are distraught.”

“So you couldn’t hear my thoughts when I lied to you.”

“Anger acts as a wall.”

I relaxed.

“When was the last time you were fed on?”

I paused. “A week ago.” Destiny had cut down feeding on me because apparently my blood had been getting less and less appetizing. I shook my head.

“Not for that reason. It’s just something to do with us feeding increases how fast humans heal. The more recent the last feeding the more effective it is.”

“So are you asking to feed on me?”

“I can’t feed on you.”

“Why is that?”

“I have fed tonight. So does you face hurt?”

Changing the subject again. I narrowed my eye at him. “Why are you so dodgy? I tell you my mom is a rape victim and you can’t even be honest with me.”

“You told me you were part of the Predali. Don’t you dare start about _me_ lying.”

“I thought you understood why I did it.” Hostility between the two of us. Perfect, this was grounds I was comfortable in.

“I think I should leave.”

“That’s a good idea.”

He turned and walked out of my room, leaving me there alone with a battered face, half blind, and scared for my best friend.

 

Through the stars

We both blink

Harmless destruction

And harmless things

We knew it was close

The night to be freed

She held my heart

In her teeth

 

That poem was terrible. What did it mean? I had no clue. I frowned as I thought for a name. Harmless Destruction?  I would write it in my journal tomorrow. I closed my eyes as sleep carried me away from my misery.

I spent Saturday in bed and finally left the house on Sunday. Cayden had proven himself right. Overnight my face had healed tremendously. A few yellowing bruises were left this morning but I could see out of both eyes again, well at least with my glasses on.

 _Oh, Destiny._ I longed for my friend, my love.

I was back at the park where I’d talked to Cayden sitting at the bench again. There were a few kids on the playground with parents sitting at the benches, I should’ve really been somewhere more populated. If the Predali was searching for me -I imagined the probably were- and they found me it wouldn’t be hard to get me here. I laid my head on the table and closed my eyes.

 _Where are you, Destiny?_ My phone rang and I jumped. I hesitated then pulled it from my pocket, answering it.

“Hey.” I paused. Who was that? “It’s Marit.”

“Marit?” I was confused, what purpose did she have calling me? How did she get my number?

“I’m sorry I let them beat the crap out of you.”

“How did you get my number?”

“Destiny gave it to me.”

 _Wait, what?_ “When?” The question was extremely important.

“I guess she followed us after you passed out.” I could tell she was nervous. “She was in my bedroom when I got home. Um…Maddie came in with me…we were hanging out…” Was she starting to cry? “Oh God it was so bad. Maddie got pissed because I mentioned that I might go check on you, you know, make sure you woke up, that you didn’t have a concussion or something. She pulled out a knife. I don’t know where it came from.”

_Holy crap. I knew Maddie was instable but was that possible?_

“She had me pinned to my bed with it on my throat.”

_Such a similar story to what happened to me…_

“Then Destiny came out of nowhere. She killed Maddie.” She was crying now. Full on sobbing.

“Marit, breathe. I want to talk to you. In person. Meet me at Maurie’s Diner.”

She sobbed out an okay then hung up. Oh, Destiny. What happened? She should have been gone by nightfall. Of course I knew why the event had unfolded the way it did, it was a clear message to me. She probably pulled Maddie into a trance and had her do it, why would she though? Why send me clues rather than tell me what was going on?

I got up and headed towards Maurie’s Diner. I walked in silence, thinking of all possibilities. As I walked all my baser instincts started going off. I was being followed.

“You’re stressed again.” I screamed when Cayden grabbed my arm. I turned and punched him in the stomach. He made a sound of pain and glared at me. “Was that necessary?”

“You’re kidding me right. I wish it had been your-”

“What’s got your panties in a twist?”

I stared at him, gaping. Was he serious? “What…you’re kidding me, right?”

“Is this about the argument?”

Was he seriously that stupid? “Yes it’s about that. You keep dodging my questions.”

“So do you. Where are you going?”

I narrowed my eyes. “If you must know, I am heading to see Marit.”

“How are you going to explain your face?”

“I honestly doubt that’s the biggest worry under that girl’s belt.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Destiny killed Maddie in front of her. In a similar way to how I had my life saved by her.”

“That is interesting. I smell a mystery. Mind if I tag along?”

“Are you going to explain to me why you dodged my question about you feeding on me.”

“If you explain to me when you fell in love with Destiny.”

I stared at him. “Get out of my head.”

“I don’t try to get in it. I’m as interested in being in your head as I am in your pants.”

“What’s so wrong with my pants?” I asked as I turned and headed towards where Maurie’s was. Of course I had to slightly annunciate my steps, swaying my hips. I was screwing with him, I was hardly interested.

“For one they are on the other side of the fence.”

“Is that so?”

“So your love for Destiny is special.” I could hear his eye roll.

“I can’t answer that question without it sounding bad.”

“I’m going to meet with this girl with you, tell you how much she’s being honest.”

“Fine.”

 

When we arrived at Maurie’s Diner I was actually really stressed out. Poor Marit. I had been in her same shoes when Destiny saved my life. I shook my head, not ready to think of the events that lead to our first encounter.

We stepped inside the small diner, it had a real oldies feel to it with the checkered floors and red and white booths on the wall beneath the windows. At the back, in the section just past the “bar” with stools lined up in front of it, Marit was in the back corner booth. She was crying again.

“Andria.” Maurie was at the bar, glaring at me. I had some bad history with him.

“If you don’t bother me I’ll pay double.”

He glared. “Fine. Do you want anything?”

“Get me a pop, don’t care what, add a steak. I’ll be over in the back corner with her.” I nodded my head in Marit’s direction.

“You better not be dealing drugs.” He mumbled as he walked to the kitchen. I headed towards Marit’s table with Cayden close behind me.

“Marit.” I slid into the booth and to the inside seat, across from her. Cayden joined me.

“He’s one. He’s one, isn’t he?” She stared at Cayden in fear.

“Figured it out quicker than you did, An.” He mumbled, chuckling.

“He’s not going to kill anyone.”

“Don’t lie to the poor girl. I very well might be killing some Predali in the near future.” I looked at him, staring.

“What are Predali?” She was staring at both of us.

“She isn’t upset.”

“Not upset?” She gaped at him. “I watch a girl I’ve known for years get killed by a girl I barely know and I’m not upset? Are you serious?” She raised her voice before quickly covering her mouth. Lucky us, we were the only ones here.

“She’s a vampire hunter.” Now I was staring, at him, then her, then back at him. Was he joking?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

He leaned across the table, looking into her eyes. “Marit, tell me the truth. What really happened?” She narrowed her eyes at him and leaned back.

“I don’t have to tell you that. In fact I have half a mind to pull the stake out of my pocket and run it through your chest right now, Vamp Boy.”

“You mean this stake?” He asked as he leaned back, moving his hands out from under the table and laying a long piece of wood about as thick as my wrist on the table.

“You’re young, haven’t been trained proper. First thing a vampire of my age does when meeting a human is smell and watch.”

She was staring at the stake on the table, shocked that he’d snagged it from her without her noticing. I was staring at her, shocked that she was a vampire hunter and even more shocked she’d full on avoided his trance.

“You have a strong mind, Marit, you are just not trained enough for physical hunts. What happened last night?”

She swallowed and looked at the two of us.

“Destiny. I followed her, she knew I was following her though. She caught me and had me pinned to a wall before I knew what had hit me. She told me I needed to tell you what she said.”

“The story you told was very similar to what happened to me the night she found me.”

“She gave me your number then bit me.” She swallowed and tilted her head to the side, moving her hair and showing a large gash. “She told me to lie down and act like I was dying or I would die.” She closed her eyes and tears streaked her face. “I saw everything. Why did you call her?”

 “I’d just woken up.”

“Around the time you called I heard the sound of someone beating on the door. She answered the phone mumbling to herself over and over. ‘How did they find me?’ She told you you needed to run. They busted open the door and she was covered in bodies. I was bleeding bad, one of them, he spared a glance at me before he picked up the phone. He told you you aren’t safe.”

I nodded, tears streaked my face. “After he hung up they pulled Destiny who was fighting to her feet. The vampire who had talked to you glanced at me again before motioning for them to lead Destiny for the door. He knelt down next to me and I thought he was going to kill me.” Tears streaked her face. “He said that Destiny wanted me to tell you to get out of here before the Predali got you too.”

“That was her mate. Did he say anything else?” Cayden said, watching her closely.

“Try and find her brother. Apparently her brother would help protect you, Andria.”

“I need to go after her.” Cayden slipped out of the booth and I grabbed his arm.

“Not without me.” I glared at him, he pulled out of my grip. “You didn’t even _know_ her.”

“Actually I did.” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“You’re her brother.” Marit said matter of factly. Of course I’d known, the chance a descendant of Destiny looking like her was immensely smaller than the chance of running into her brother. I would be a liar if I said I didn’t suspect it.

“I am.”

“Were you following her?” I noticed Maurie coming behind him, carrying my food and drink, in to go containers I might add. I rolled my eyes, nonchalance must not run in the family. “Sit.” I mumbled and he did as I said, with a bit of reluctance.

“Here’s your food and ticket. Enjoy.”

“Trying to get me out of here?”

“I thought you said to go.” He narrowed his eyes at me before turning and heading back to the front.

I looked at Cayden, or rather Cre.

“Were you following her, Cre?”

“She mentioned me?”

“Briefly. Answer the question.”

“I wasn’t following her. I stumbled across her scent while passing through town. I figured she was doing the school gig again so I enrolled. Instead of finding her I come across this girl with an attitude who claims she works for Predali.” He shook his head and looked at Marit. “Stop freaking out. Vampire hunters need calm collected minds otherwise they have no hope of catching a vampire.” He looked back at me. “No stabbing me with that eyeliner pencil in your purse will not keep me from killing you. In fact I don’t intend on killing you if you don’t try to kill me.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I didn’t piece together that you and Destiny were friends, it never even crossed my mind. After you ditched me I followed her scent but was dead ended. I actually don’t know how the Predali tracked her.”

“Her mate.” I shook my head. “She talked about her mate calling to her.”

“Is it possible he used his telepathic link to snag some information on where she was?” Marit surprised me by speaking.

“Actually it is. I never even thought about that. The thing is if he was traveling with them, they have been following her for a while. I imagine they had to have caught your scent more than once, Andria.”

“If that’s true they would know she was planning to change you.” Marit tilted her head. “That was the intention, right?”

“It was.” I said, thoughtful. “That’s against their rules. Changing a human selfishly on the Blood Moon.”

“We’re only supposed to sacrifice ourselves to the Full Moon. Most vampires find the Blood Moon as a flaw in the Dark Lord’s work.” He paused.

“The punishment is slow torture, correct?” Marit knew a lot, how did she end up in the middle of all of this?

“To both the human and vampire, her mate would have never knowingly lead them to her. He loves her too much to do that.”

“So another telepath?” Marit was making me feel useless, it was clear she knew more about vampires than I did and I was supposed to become one.

“They may have had one with them, using her mate to learn of her location without his knowledge.”

“Are there any other hunters in town?” I asked.

Marit looked at me. “My mother is.”

“Maddie is alive, isn’t she?”

“I have a joke for you guys.” All three of us looked up as a woman walked up to the table, I had no doubt this was Marit’s mom. They looked like sisters.

“A vampire, a vampire hunter, and a human walk into a diner. The human says nothing because the vampire tore her throat out and the vampire says nothing because the vampire hunter quickly staked the vampire, just not quick enough to save the stupid human girl.” Cre jumped onto the table at the same time her mother grabbed the stake off the table and went for his heart. _Shit._

I grabbed for the stake as her mother tried to pull it out of the chair. Cre was behind her in seconds and had her head in his arms in the perfect position to snap her neck, I managed to yank the knife out of her grip.

“Mom! Cre, let her go!”

“Are you serious right now?” He stared at her dumbfounded.

“Marit, you do realize your mom just tried to stake him, right? I really doubt you are the voice of reason.”

“He isn’t going to kill us.”

“That is the truth, presuming she doesn’t try and kill me again. I need honesty from her saying that won’t happen though.”

Her mom didn’t say a word. She just glared at me.

“What are you doing here, mom?”

“I overheard your phonecall with Andria.” She said, never losing her glare towards me. “I’ve been following this one since he arrived in town.”

“If that’s the case you’ll know I haven’t killed anyone since I arrived.” Cre looked agitated and conflicted.

“For now.”

“For constant. Seeing as I am leaving to get my sister back from Predali tonight.”

Her mom paled at the name, good. “The Predali are in town?”

“They’re hunting me down.” I said quietly.

After a moment she nodded. “I’ll listen.”

“If you try to kill me again you will die.” Cre dropped her and she slumped her shoulders. “Take the stake out of your boot and pocket and lay them on the table.” She did as he requested with obvious reluctance. I took them both and set them next to me on the side close to the wall. “If I planned on killing you I would have done it when I had your head between my arms.”

She sat down next to Marit, watching Cre with very wary eyes.

He sat down next to me, doing the same. “So what drew the Predali here?”

“The girl I went after a couple nights ago.”

“The one that tore your throat up?”

“Yes. Apparently it was the Predali who caught her. She saved my life, mom.”

“Where do these two come into the picture?”

“I was Destiny’s friend.” I sighed. “Part of the reason the Predali were here in the first place was she was traveling with me."

“You were going to exploit the blood moon.” Now she moved her glare to me. “It’s people like you that cause problems for people like us. We’re trying to take out the filth then-”

“Do not call us filth.” Cre growled at her.

“You are filth. You are unholy trash.”

I grabbed Cre’s arm as he moved to go after her.

“Let’s not argue. I do not want to argue right now. I just want to find Destiny.”

I could feel a growl building in him.

“Andria’s right.” Marit sighed and closed her eyes. “Mom, stop picking on him. His sister is the only reason I am still alive.”

“She tore up your throat.”

“It was to keep her alive. If the Predali had seen her alive they would have known she was a hunter and killed her. If they thought that Destiny had attacked and left her to die they would leave her be, allowing the bleeding out to kill her.” Cre shook his head. “It wasn’t the optimal route, she could have done it another way but she didn’t because she was panicking. If her neck isn’t healed yet it means she didn’t actually feed on your daughter if that makes you feel any better.”

“That’s why your face isn’t battered anymore?” Marit looked at me and I nodded. “I was honestly too agitated that you’d brought vamp boy here to even have noticed it.”

“We keep getting off track.”

“I know the perfect solution to the problem at hand. Hand her over to the Predali.” Marit’s mom was right but it didn’t really ease the tension at the table.

“One that doesn’t result in me getting tortured.”

“You got yourself into this mess.” Her reply was true but irritating all the same.

“If you don’t want to be involved with this you can leave.” Cre finally said.

“You should leave town. Make sure your scent shows that.” Marit’s mom stood and looked expectantly at Marit.

“I am going to stay with them, talk to them some more.”

Her mom hesitated. “Fine. If you aren’t home by ten I expect you to be carrying this one’s dead corpse with you.” She glared at him before turning and walking towards the entrance, leaving us alone.

“You and your mom seem quite the opposite.”

“We have different approaches. I don’t kill vampires who don’t kill their victims.”

“Then why did you go after Destiny?” Cre and I asked the question at the same time and I couldn’t help but blush. It was embarrassing and awkward.

“She killed Maddie.” Marit’s mouth set into a grim line. “The story I told was a derivation from the truth. I was walking down the street with Maddie, she was bragging about how bad she beat you.”

I snorted then shook my head. “It took three of them to take me down.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cre smirk, of course the only reason I had seen it in that light was him.

“I know but she was my cover, weak defenseless girl with the group of whiny wannabe rich kids. I listened to her go on and on about how you didn’t stand a chance and that you punching her had earned her the right to beat your face in. Destiny came out of nowhere. I scrambled back at the same time I heard Maddie scream I was running in the opposite direction, I hid at the edge of an alley until I saw her leaving.”

“Maddie was dead.” Cre said matter of factly.

“She was, so I did was I was obligated to, I followed Destiny. You know the rest.”

“Something doesn’t add up here.” I put my hands up to my head and rubbed my temples. “Several points don’t. Why haven’t we heard about Maddie’s death? Why did Destiny kill her?”

“Sounds like Maddie was a thorn in everyone’s back, maybe she just got fed up?” Cre said it though it was obvious he didn’t believe it.

“Destiny never killed unless it was necessary.”

“What reason could she have for killing Maddie?”

“Maddie wasn’t a Predali spy was she?” We both looked at Cre like he was stupid. “It’s completely possible that anyone can be one, it could explain why Destiny was found and why she beat the crap out of you, to draw out your vampire friend.”

“But it was _Maddie._ ”

“You had me convinced you were one.”

I shook my head. “There’s no way.”

“There are many ways they could’ve found Destiny. Her mate, a Predali spy. Both.”

“Marit, did Maddie give any indications? Anything at all out of the usual?”

She thought, I noticed Cre seemed to be focused on it too. What was he doing? Reading her mind?

“Once.” She closed her eyes. “I didn’t ever think about it but once she did. She was talking about having to get home. She said something about Jay killing her if she didn’t tell him who she found.”

“Jay?” I felt sick to my stomach. Destiny rarely mentioned the name but when she did it was negatively. If he was directly involved in whatever is going on here… I shook my head.

“She told me her dad’s name was Jay, back then I didn’t think much about it.”

“I just can’t imagine Maddie having been a spy.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t seem possible.”

“It could all be coincidence.” Marit said.

“She’s right. We honestly can’t know. Especially if Maddie is dead.” Cre paused and I closed my eyes again. No matter the reason why Destiny had been found, I didn’t really care why or how, all I cared about was finding her.

“We have to go find her.” I said opening my eyes and looking at the two of them.

“You want to go straight into the Predali city?” Cre stared at me dumbfounded.

“Yes.” I looked at Marit. “You can go home.”

“I want to go. This is the perfect opportunity for a hunter.” She smiled sadly.

“Tonight. Meet at the park midnight.” Cre said as he stood up.

“I will see you guys soon.” I mumbled as I slid out of the table, a new poem sliding into my head.

Three different creatures with

Three different reasons

Three different lives on

Three different nights

Three different times for

Three different fights

Three different souls all

Doomed to die


	5. MOR

There were a lot of words to describe what I was feeling when I got home. I had managed to avoid my mom since I got home Friday but I knew that I had to talk to her before I left. Even if she had been selfish my entire childhood she had loved me. She’d raised me from birth rather than completely given me up. It wasn’t completely right to throw all the blame on her.

After we’d left the diner I’d walked around town for a while, debating on how to approach my mom. I hadn’t realized how long it had been until the sun started setting.

I slipped in the front door and was greeted by the smell of steak and potatoes. _Mmmm_ … I walked around the corner and into the kitchen, and was greeted by my mom standing in the small room at the stove. There was a man with sleek black hair sitting with his back to me at the center island on one of the stools.

“Your home?” She asked without looking up.

I was tense, my instincts were reacting properly. My hair stood on end and I was seeking out the nearest piece of wood. I closed my eyes and regulated my heartbeat.

“Who’s this?” I asked, glaring at the back of the vampire’s head. I needed to approach this carefully.

“This is Mor, he started work at the hospital today and I thought I’d invite him over for dinner.” She turned to face us and gave me a look that said “don’t you dare cause problems”.

 _Mor._ That name…why was…

Destiny’s mate! What was he doing here? Was he going to kill me?

“June.” My mom looked at him and froze where she stood. I almost fell into trance. Holy crap. “You will continue cooking and not hear a word that is exchanged between us until I say so.” I had to shake my head and drown out his voice with a song in my head to keep from falling under with her.

“Andria.” He turned around in his seat and I had to look him over. He had very pale white skin with dark blue eyes. He looked around twenty-four, maybe twenty-five. Well physically anyway Destiny was somewhere around seventeen or eighteen when she was changed, then again she was from a different time. Their age gap might not have been so weird at one point. I was around thirteen when she’d saved me and started feeding on me. Now that I thought about it that was a bit creepy but we were the same age now. “I spoke with Destiny. I am supposed to kill you. I told the others I was going to. But Destiny begged me not to. I denied her mentally.” He got up and walked over to the counter, picking up a mixing spoon and breaking it, causing it to splinter.

“I had no idea they were using me to find her. I’ve been leading them off course for a long time now. I had no idea that when Malish joined us it was for him to pinpoint her using me. I tricked him when they left, convinced him that I had no intentions of keeping you alive.” I was gaping at him, was he planning to keep me alive?

“In order to convince them I was going to kill you I need you to stake me. Not through the heart but close enough that it will impair my ability to follow you. You and her brother are leaving.”

“How did you know that?”

“He told me. I talked to him briefly after you two left the diner. I cannot believe you two are bringing the hunter with you.”

“I highly doubt her mom will let her come with us.”

“If you knew her story you’d understand why getting the Predali is so important to her. She won’t let her mom deny her and I doubt her mom will fight her on it.”

“What is her story?”

“Not mine to tell. Now let’s sit and eat dinner.” He walked over to me and handed me the severed spoon. “After dinner I will leave then come through your window. You can ‘attack’ me there”

“If that’s the case why would I have this spoon?”

He chuckled. “I didn’t think about that. You’ll figure something out.” He winked at me and grinned. I narrowed my eyes as he looked back at my mom.

“You can listen again.” I had to shake my head. My Lord he had a very powerful telepathic trance. He sat down at the table.

She turned away from the food and narrowed her eyes when she saw the broken spoon in my hand. Of course I get in trouble for a vampire’s decision, again.

“How was your day, Andria?”

“Oh it was amazing.” I smiled sweetly. “I was out with Cayden. We ate at Maurie’s then hung out at his place for a couple hours. It was _loads_ of fun.” I sat down next to Mor who was giving me a look out of the corner of his eye; one that told me that I was being childish. I was being childish though, flaunting spending the day at my “ex-boyfriend’s” house all day, she hadn’t asked about my face yet which made me wonder if Cre had messed with her mind enough that she didn’t even think of it.

She gritted her teeth and smiled overly happy, obviously not wanting to embarrass herself in front of her new “work friend”. “That sounds great, what did you do while you were there?” A death glare that told me not to say what I was so tempted to say was clear in her eyes before she turned back to the food. I _really_ wanted to say something to embarrass her; I really did, but tonight was goodbye. I needed to treat her respectably. I owed her that much.

“We talked, he asked me to forgive him. I did, we’re back together.” I hoped Cre would enjoy learning that he was my “boyfriend”.

The more I thought about it the more it bothered me. Destiny’s mate was sitting right next to me, the one who loved her probably more than I ever could. I shook my head, pushing the thoughts away. I couldn’t let my mind slip if he could read minds. He might change his mind and decide to kill me and as unfortunate as it was I had no proper training in defending myself against vampires.

“Sounds like my girlfriend and I.” He said absentmindedly. _She left you, buddy. Hasn’t been with you in a very long time._ Of course I didn’t say that, it would’ve been out of place and then I’d have had to explain it to my mom.

“You have a girlfriend?” My mom asked, the disappointment obvious in her voice.

“Yes I do. Wonderful woman. Known her for a long time.” _Nice choice of words._

“Where is she at?”

He paused for a millisecond. “She’s with her family in Rome.”

“Rome? That’s a bit out there.”

“Family business.” The answer was short.

“Family business?” She shook her head and laughed lightly as she leaned against the counter. “You make it sound like she’s part of the mafia or something.”

I snickered at that, oh if only my mom knew.

“Something funny, Andria?” I almost smacked him; Destiny had done similar things, putting me in a spot to answer questions that I couldn’t in front of my mom. I could see him smirking out of the corner of my eye. He knew what he was up to then. _Hm._

“Well, I just thought it was ironic. You mention the mafia. This guy right here could be a great mafia member. I mean, look at him. He’s got the perfect look for it. Sleek black back hair, skin so white it’s a wonder he ever steps foot outside. I bet he even speaks Italian and sits every Friday night in a restaurant orderin’ a pizza and eatin’ a spaghetti.”

I did a terrible Italian accent there, probably getting my Italian mafia stereotypes terribly off. I couldn’t help it. Besides, if he was going to put me in an awkward situation it was best he got punished for it.

My mom was gaping, absolutely stunned. However in about two milliseconds Mor was cracking up. My mom moved her stare to him. I couldn’t help but grin.

“I’m sorry, June but your daughter might be my new favorite person in the world.” He said after he had finished his fit of laughter.

“Thank you, sir.” I bowed awkwardly from seat earning another laugh at my terrible accent.

My mom was staring at us, more specifically, me. I suppose she had good reason, when was the last time I was nice to someone she brought home?

“So how’s dinner coming along?”

“Oh…um.” She shook her head and looked back at the stove. I hated myself for it but I couldn’t help but like this guy, I could understand his appeal. “Close to being done.” My mom mumbled, breaking my thought process. “So I was thinking this morning. I know you hate moving, I get that. I was talking to an old coworker from back when we lived in Oregon. He has been calling me a lot recently.” She let out a breath, where was this going? We’d met Destiny when we’d lived there. “He told me he could get me hired back there. You could live close to Destiny again and…” Wait. She wanted to move back to Oregon? What friend from work could convince her… I struggled with the thought. I knew I couldn’t tell her the truth. I couldn’t say, “do as you wish, mom, it’s not like I’ll be here tomorrow anyways.”

Friend from work…John. He was a good guy, great guy actually. I’d scared him off when we’d met.

“Moving out of state? I only just met you.” _Don’t try to talk her out of it._

“It’s nothing personal of course. I don’t mean to offend you by inviting you over for dinner then talking about the move.”

“That’s fine.” A phone started ringing and we all jumped, he reached into his pocket and pulled a small flip phone out, he tensed up for a brief second before relaxing again and getting up. “I need to take this,” he mumbled then left the room, I faintly heard him say, “what?” before he was out of my earshot.

“What was that about?”

“What, mom?”

“You _never_ behave around people I bring home.”

“He’s a cool guy.” I mumbled as she pulled the pot of noodles off the stove and drained it.

“I don’t understand you, Andria. I honestly don’t understand. You can be such a brat at times and other times…” She shook her head.

“I’m a brat? Those words coming from the woman who moved every chance she had to make a few dollars more. _I’m_ the brat? Ms.    Ifidneverhadyoumylifewouldbesomuchbetter? You are such a hypocrite _mom._ You know what? I’m sorry that man raped you, I really am, did it ever occur to you that _maybe_ , just _maybe_ I’m a brat because it’s the _only_ way you’ll give me attention, the only way you look past the fact that you don’t have this designer pair of shoes or that brand new ultra high definition television. I get it, your life sucks, you’ve been pushing that on me for the past eighteen years. Maybe you would be better if I just _left_.” She dropped the pan on the table, other than that dead silence. I didn’t know where that came from but I knew I had been waiting to say that for a very long time.

I got up and stepped out of the room, it was deadly silent. _Sever the relationship._ Then it hit me, the reason why I lashed out. I hadn’t been focusing, I’d let him into my head by accident and as a consequence I’d lashed out. I stormed to my room, throwing open the door and grabbing a wooden figurine of a wolf off my desk. He was sitting on my bed, watching me with a look of amusement.

“You asshole.” I buried the pure anger.

“Drop the wolf.” Oh crap. I dropped it, no control over the action. He was _strong._ “I get that you’re mad. I really do. You’re overwhelmed with emotions, most of them involving my _mate._ I’m not here because I want to be, I’m here because she told me to be. I just talked to her brother and you are delaying so pick up your Satan forsaken wolf and stab me in the stomach so you can leave and I can go back to her.”

I managed to resist the mind control, this was difficult though, I could almost feel him prying on my mind.

“Not until we talk.”

“I was wrong, you do have a strong mind.” He paused. “I’m sorry I did that to you and your mom but you don’t want her looking for you. She might end up nosing into the wrong place.”

“You made me do it to save her life. I could’ve approached the situation. That wasn’t necessary.”  I glared at him.

“You wouldn’t have approached it, you know you wouldn’t have. While you can keep me from controlling your mind you can’t keep me out of your brain. You planned on leaving after making her happy.”

“You have potent mind control, right?”

He nodded, a look of surprise on his face. “Are you certain you want me to do that?”

I swallowed, he’d picked up the thought. He was right, she would look for me and it would probably get her killed. Unless I did something to stop her from looking for me.

“How hard would it be for you to remove 18 years of her life?”

“Near impossible, however, I can modify her memory, make her believe she doesn’t care that you’re gone.”

“She wouldn’t care about me anymore.” I swallowed, could I really do that? I would be giving up my mom…I would’ve had to do that anyway. If I was gone maybe she could be happy… I nodded. “Okay.”

He got up and walked to the door, I knelt down and lifted the wolf figurine, looking it over carefully. Where had I gotten this?...

 

_I laid in bed, my window was open as I waited for her._

_“Andria.” I jumped, my hair rising on end. I sat up and looked towards the window, she was standing in front of the frame with a small bag in her hand. “Happy birthday.”_

_“You remembered?”_

_“Of course I did.” She rolled her eyes and walked over, sitting down next to me as I sat up. “Your mom forgot again, didn’t she?”_

_“She said it, we didn’t do anything.” I mumbled as she handed me the bag._

_“Well I got this for you, it’s not much but I thought you’d like it.” I was surprised, she had never really been one to show affection. I looked down at the small bag and reached inside, pulling the small wooden figurine from the bag, it was a beautiful, hand carved wolf. It was sitting on a small platform with its head thrown back, trapped forever in a howl._

_“This is for more than one thing. It’s wood so if you ever need…”_

_“Thank you, Destiny.” I dropped the figurine, and tackled her into a hug, crying softly out of happiness. The hug was awkward seeing as we were sitting on a bed together but I’d needed it._

I ran my finger over one missing paw that had somehow fell off when I dropped it that first day I’d had it. I closed my eyes. _Oh, Destiny. I will save you. I promise._

“You better keep that promise. Don’t move.” I was frozen in place, fighting off the mental control. He rolled his eyes and I was free. I turned, glaring at him, and backed away. “Look, if you plan on barging into the Predali kingdom you should really learn to fight off that mind control. Also why did Destiny never fix your eyesight? You can’t possibly fight when you can barely see without that stupid glass over your eyes.”

“Fix my eyesight?” Now I was confused, was that possible? Would I be able to see without glasses?

“Oh for Satan’s sake.” He rolled his eyes. “I love her but she is seriously selfish.” He walked over to me; I didn’t run or plunge the wolf into his chest like I wanted to. Instead I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched him approach me. “I am going to assume you are aware our feeding speeds up your healing process. Well that is because our saliva has certain healing ailments in it. Our saliva seeps into your bloodstream, you heal faster.” He paused. “On the contrary I’m kind of happy she didn’t heal your eyesight. Knowing what I know about your mind.” He shook his head and sighed. “Stand up, Red.”

“Red?” I narrowed my eyes and stood up.

“What? I know you’d get mad if I called you An.”

I glared at him. He chuckled. “Remember, this doesn’t mean anything. Also, don’t fight me. Make my life a lot easier.” Then he was kissing me, I was frozen from the mind control, _what the Hell?_ I wanted to fight him, God the mind control. I pushed and struggled with my mind but couldn’t for the life of me get him to snap out of it. Finally, I yanked, falling back onto my bed. He was laughing, backing away as I swung for him with the wolf.

“Here I thought you wouldn’t have the will power.”

“ _What the Hell?”_ I swung again and he backed up, still laughing.

“Oh, relax. Remember what I said about saliva? Well you see Satan decided that in order to heal major ailments, like your eyes for example, require a bit more than a simple feeding.

“You couldn’t tell me this _beforehand_?”

“I was testing your mind, easier if you’re actually angry.”

I wanted to kill him, I really did, and I knew what he was doing. He was saying, “Hey, I’m stronger than you, I’m not _human_. That girl, she’s mine.”

“Clever as you are a smart ass.” He shook his head and walked over to the window. “I have every reason in the world to kill you, Hell; my life may depend on your death if they don’t buy the story. That’s the kind of risk I am willing to take for my mate.”

“It doesn’t bother you that she _left_ you?”

“Left me?” He laughed. “She really didn’t tell you anything about me, did she? She didn’t leave _me._ She left the Predali. She was told to do something she couldn’t bring herself to do.”

 _Don’t give in, keep calm. Keep your mind blocked._ I let out a low breath. “I don’t believe a word of what you say.”

“That’s childish of you.” He turned to look at me. “I have to say though. You caught on to the blocking your mind pretty quick. I don’t want to be here much longer. For more than one reason. ”

“Care to share those reasons?”

“I could share those reasons but I’d rather torture Cre with those reasons for a bit.”

That confused me, what did Cre have to do with this?

“Red, come on. We haven’t got all day…night…you get the idea.” He walked towards me and shook his head. “I am not looking forward to this.” He touched just over his right lung. “Okay, if you hit me here it should do enough damage to make it believable that you took me down without killing me. And, Red. If you go for my heart I will know your plan and I will kill you. I do value my life.”

I wanted to kill him, it was selfish, but I did have something in common with him, I valued my life. It would have been stupid to kill him considering he was letting me live.

I stood up and maneuvered the wolf to a position where I could push it into his chest.  “I kind of wish she’d taught you how to fight.” He shook his head and I narrowed my eyes and threw my arm forward, hitting him right where he’d shown me.

He growled and fell back, he immediately started coughing up blood. “Shit.” He managed to get out between his coughs. I didn’t stay to watch, if I’d killed him then I’d killed him, if I hadn’t I didn’t want to stick around to find out what happened because of all of that blood loss. When I got outside I noticed that the car was gone, he must have sent her away for that reason. I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath. Okay. To the park.


	6. LEGENDS

It was chilly out and I hadn’t grabbed my jacket on the way out of the house. Mistakes had been made but nothing could be done about it now so I headed forward. While I walked I thought about everything.

He was right. Whether I wanted to or liked admitting it he was right, she had kept a lot of things for me so for all I knew he could’ve been telling the truth. Destiny hadn’t ever really talked about her life before she met me unless she thought it was necessary. Things like the Predali were important for me to know about, her history she never really shared with me though. On top of the stress over that, there was something eating at me, something I couldn’t quite place.

It wasn’t long before I was walking into the playground, Cre and Marit were sitting at the table I had sat at with him just a couple days ago. Lord, had it only been a couple days? I joined them, no one spoke a word. Cre’s cat eyes were staring off into the distance. The silence would’ve been awkward had all of our minds not been on the task ahead of us.

“Where’s Mor?” He finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Laying on my bedroom floor with a wooden wolf sticking out of his chest.” There were several long moments of silence before I finally asked, “How hard will it be to get to the Predali city?”

“Harder than I’d like it to be, I’m not exactly welcome there so we’ll have to take some backway passages to get there.”

“What kind of backway passages are you talking about, Cre?” The tone in Marit’s voice was extremely wary.

“The Witches.”

“Witches?” I asked at the same time Marit said, “The Witches” with disgust.

“I am going to assume my sister never told you about them. They aren’t what you think, they’re vampires who work extremely close with our creator.”

“Satan.” Marit snorted.

“You call us damned creatures yet you are an atheist, Marit. You are the most…”

“My mom calls you damned, I call you planetary scum.”

“Focus. What are these ‘Witches’?” I interrupted them.

“As I said, they work very close with our creator,” I could practically feel Marit roll her eyes, “they tap into the forces of Hell. The name Witches was given to them by humans. Witches aren’t humans with magical powers but vampires who tap into the power of Hell. They are _extremely_ dangerous if you aren’t careful.”

“Dangerous is an understatement from what we know of them, how exactly do we intend on getting their help?” Marit asked.

“How exactly will they help?” I asked following her question.

“They will take us through Hell.”

Dead silence, both Marit and I just stared at him like he was absolutely insane.

“Let me explain. There is a reason why it’s so difficult to enter the Predali city. It’s not technically on the same plane of existence. Think of Heaven, Purgatory, Hell, Earth, all those things…a sandwich.”

“A sandwich. I am going to be traveling with an insane vampire, wonderful.” Marit shook her head and threw her hands up in defeat. “Screw it, life is a sandwich.”

He chuckled and went on. “The bread is Heaven, the top layer, for the sake of argument we will put the condiments being a couple other planes of existence that aren’t relevant. Lettuce is Purgatory. The cheese is the Predali City…”

“So in this analogy the ham would be Earth and…” I thought I’d figured it out, of course I wasn’t.

“Nice try but no, the ham as you put it is Hell and Earth would be the other piece of bread.”

“Earth is at the bottom of the chain?” I asked him full of curiosity.

“Yes. When entering the Predali City you _have_ to pass through the nearest layer.”

It hit me then. “So wait, if we want to go to Heaven when we die…”

“When a soul dies and goes to Heaven, it has to pass through the two main planes of existence. It goes through Hell, into Purgatory, and then it reaches Heaven. This allows the bad seeds to get filtered out before entering Heaven. The Predali City is more of a pocket plane. It’s not exactly part of the ‘sandwich.’ Know what? Forget the analogy. It was a bad one.”

“So we have to go through Hell to reach the Predali City.” It was clear by Marit’s voice that she still didn’t believe a word of it.

“Yes.” He paused and ran his hand through his hair. “The normal entrance has a straight line through Hell created by our father but that entrance is for those that are welcome. It’s guarded carefully.”

“What about the way from The Witches?” I asked, Marit gave me a look that said _“I can’t believe you’re stupid enough to buy into this religion crap.”_

“It’s not exactly an ‘approved route’. It runs underground where the tortured souls fall to.”

“What’s a tortured soul?” I asked, the name made me hope he wouldn’t answer.

“If I were to say you might not want to go.”

 _Thank you, Satan._ I did it again. Bad habit. “I’ll go without that information then.”

“I have to be honest, I might kill Destiny if she makes it out of this alive for keeping you so ignorant. Then again I might kill you for not asking questions.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, I had never felt the need to ask questions. It wasn’t Destiny’s fault. He wasn’t allowed to blame her for that.

“I’m kidding, I’m sure you both had your reasons.”

“I still cannot believe you want to be changed.” Marit shook her head, disgust in her voice.

“I am not going to explain myself to you.” I could understand the distaste vampires had in vampire hunters, both Marit and her mom had proven themselves as jump to conclusion judgmental.

“I can deal with non-killer vampires. I can roll with that. What I can’t understand is why you would _choose_ to become one of them. Chances are when you are changed you won’t even be the same person.”

“It’s not your business to understand why someone chooses this life.” Marit narrowed her eyes at Cre.

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

“Will you two just stop for the love of everything that is unholy?”

“You really have spent _way_ too much time around Destiny.” He grinned at me.

“That is so screwed up.” Marit shook her head and got out of her seat.

I rolled my eyes at her. “Coming from the atheist vampire hunter.”

“I don’t have to explain my beliefs -or lack of- to you.”

“Then I don’t have to explain my desire to become a vampire.” I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.

“Look, I’ve got a car parked about half a mile from here. It’s about the only way we’ll be able to lessen the trail that Andria here will leave.”

“How would I leave a trail? Why wouldn’t you or Marit?”

“Your blood will leave a trail that can only be tracked by hellhounds. They wouldn’t have been able to track you before to get my sister but now they have my sister and she’s had your blood.”

“Hellhounds?” Marit and I asked at the same time.

“You’re joking right?” Marit sounded doubtful. Hellhounds. Images of black dogs with glowing red eyes flashed through my mind.

“Unfortunately yes. Only a few roam the surface and they are bound to the bidding of whoever summoned them. I really do not want to get caught up with Jay or Mor’s hound so we should really go.”

“This trip is sounding safer and safer.” Marit shook her head, disdain in her voice.

“You hunt vampires, Marit. You were bound to die before your twentieth birthday anyway. Especially when your mind isn’t trained properly.”

Marit held up her hands in defeat. “Your right. I flunked mind shielding one-oh-one. Sue me.”

“Tell you what. So you don’t get us killed when we get to the Predali city I will teach you to utilize that deep rooted anger as an effective wall rather than it be a dead giveaway to every vampire in a hundred mile radius.”

“That’s not an offer.” She acknowledged, narrowing her eyes at the vampire.

“You’re right. It’s a requirement. Now let’s go. Mor will probably be back on his feet at this point.”

“Should I ask what he’ll do when he wakes up?”

He gave Marit a look. “You wouldn’t approve so I won’t. Now seriously. I value my life a whole hell of a lot more than I value bringing you two along.” Cre glanced between the two of us before turning and strolling off into the dark. I wasted no time and rushing after him. I didn’t hear Marit’s footsteps but I didn’t doubt she was close behind.

 

.-~**~-.

 

We were riding in an old black SUV. I’d taken the passenger seat in the front while Marit was riding in the very back of it. She hadn’t spoken a word since we’d left. Other than the occasional comment on the empty landscape around us there weren’t many words spoken. Not for a while anyway. The silence hit a point of solid discomfort so I turned the radio on.

The station was playing in the middle of playing some David Bowie song. I didn’t recognize the lyrics but I did recognize the voice clear as day. I closed my eyes and listened closely to the lyrics, absorbing them.

“Bowie? Really?” Cre’s voice broke my out of my music induced haze.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What?”

He chuckled, not moving his gaze from the road as he spoke. “Nothing. It’s just…David was a vampire.”

“What?” I couldn’t help but stare at the side of his head.

“He got turned a year before he died. The ‘cancer’ that killed him. It wasn’t cancer. Vampire hunter ran him through with a stake. They cleaned up the mess and falsified records. It’s what they do. Especially when a big name gets turned over.”

“How often does it happen?”

“Not often but often enough. You’d be surprised to know what big names have been vampires.”

“Interesting.” I remarked after a moment. The song ended, followed by an overly happy person rambling on about the weather. I chose to ignore this, instead returning my focus to outside the window. It was dark, except for the light glow of the moon it was almost pitch black. I had to wonder what they saw. What did the vampires see when they looked out over the blackened landscape. I wanted to see what they did. I wanted to be strong and bloodthirsty and free. I’d wanted it my entire life.

Even before I’d known about vampires I’d spent most of my free time seeking that thrill. I’d have probably ended up killing someone before I turned fifteen if it hadn’t been for Destiny.

She’d saved me. And now…now she was gone. She was prisoner to the Predali. I didn’t like it.

“Stop moping, An.”

“Stop calling me ‘An’.”

“Fine, Andy. Your mind is strong. You have proven that to me. Emotions. Keep them under control. Actually. Marit, it’s time for your first lesson. Both of you listen closely. You can shield your mind. I’ve seen you both do it.” He paused and I looked over to watch him turn the music down. A song I didn’t recognize but it was clearly from the same decade and the other song we’d listened to. “Marit, you have a lot of deep rooted anger. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just not knowing how to use it makes it a weakness. I’ve met vampire hunters more than once. The way they train new hunters to shield their mind is to tell them they need to keep calm and collected. That isn’t necessarily the case.”

I listened to him talk before finally speaking up. “Destiny never taught me to shield my mind because she never told me about the telepathy. But she did teach me how to fight off trances. She told me while a calm and collected reaction is always best sometimes I would need to use my current emotions to wall off. Would that work the same?”

“Yes.” Cre acknowledged after a moment.

“So we’ve been teaching hunters the wrong way?” Marit’s voice came from what sounded like the middle seats. I spared a glance in the rearview mirror and could see the corner of her head in it.

“We’ve gotta keep some of our secrets. You do threaten to wipe our race out.” His voice was quickly replaced with a grave tone. “I’ve seen what humanity does with knowledge. They use it. They abuse it. Our kind has access to Hell and Purgatory. I mean, Lord, we have access to Heaven if we’re brave enough. The kind of power we can get our hands on is stuff your governments would use to destroy the world. Call us earth scum or whatever you like but the truth is we’re for the most part good.”

“Okay. Assuming you aren’t lying your ass off about this crap. About Satan, Hell, Heaven. Let’s say it’s all real. Satan is evil.”

“Says who?” Cre chuckled and shook his head. “That Bible isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Lucifer fell because he didn’t agree with God. He guided humanity in corruption but he never was truly evil. He still follows God’s plan. In Hell the ‘evil’ reap what they sow. Also, when a vampire dies. We still have the potential to go to Heaven. Those of us who never kill. Those of us who continue to abide by His will. Those of us who atone for our sins.”

“How exactly did a fallen angel make vampires?” I asked after a moment. I couldn’t look away from him as he spoke. I was intrigued. I was curious. I hated religion. Even in the occasional rant from Destiny about how great Satan was I’d never paid attention. I’d never cared enough to do it. Now I was interested. For some reason this story interested me.

“Only God can create. Only He has the power to make something. What our father did, what Satan did. He only modified us. When humanity was originally created it was going to be another beast. Another animal to walk the planet. Then He chose to make you more. He chose to give you more purpose. All our father does is return us to our original state. However, our previous humanity gives us a stronger mentality than God’s original creations. The moons are, technically, a formality. If he chose to do so he could turn a human into a vampire without the moon.”

“So we’re supposed to be bloodthirsty monsters? That’s what you’re saying?” Marit snorted.

The car came to an abrupt halt, tires squealing as we jerked to the side of the road. Cre turned around in his seat and I had to look over. I watched as he reached next to him and unleashed the latch that allowed him to throw the seat back and pin Marit beneath it. I couldn’t see his face. I couldn’t see his expression. It was all shrouded in darkness. What I could see though was the way he held himself. His knees were pressed against the back of his seat, his hands were gripping each side of it.

Marit was struggling underneath the seat, looking up at him. I could only see a bit of her expression. It was enough though. She looked terrified. Terrified because she was trapped.

“Listen here, girl. Listen closely. I did _not_ need to bring you with me. It wasn’t necessary. It didn’t have to happen. Sit there and marinate in your own anger. Do it as you wish. Don’t you _dare_ say you are above us though. You aren’t. You are part of a long line of _murderers._ Sure, some of us deserve to die. I wouldn’t for ten seconds deny that. But you cannot turn around and say the _same_ exact thing about your kind.” The raw anger that came from his voice, I’d heard that anger before. That was the same way Destiny’s voice had come across when she’d saved my life all those years ago. He was furious.

“Let me up.” The hostility in her tone was a match for his anger.

“Make me.” He growled out the words. There was a brief moment of lethal silence before he jerked back, hitting his back against the steering wheel. “Damnit.” He hissed out.

I stared at them, Marit was staring at him with pure shock as he released the latch on his chair, allowing her up.

“What…” Marit didn’t move when she spoke.

“I pulled you in a trance. Briefly.” He laughed weakly, turning in his seat so that he was facing the steering wheel. After a second he leaned his forehead against the steering wheel. “The right amount of emotion from a human condensed can physically shock us. It’s a weakness. Something vampire hunters don’t know for good reasons. You, Marit. You have such a strong mind. If you would just _learn_ to utilize it properly.” He chuckled, lifting his head and looking over at me, his eyes lingered on me in a predatory way before he returned his gaze in front of him.

“You can’t trance me. You couldn’t before.”

“Not long term ones. Short term, a few seconds, I mustered up enough of my own emotion to do it. I really didn’t intend on teaching you that.” He pulled the car onto the road again. “Practice that. Try and recreate it. Just don’t do it if there’s cars nearby.” I turned in my seat as Marit climbed over the seat back into the back. It didn’t pass my notice that she was physically shaking.

There was silence for a couple minutes as Cre just drove. The radio ended up on a commercial break and I really couldn’t bring myself to care. Something was nagging at me. At the back of my mind. I couldn’t quite catch what it was though.

“Why are you helping her so much, Cre?” I ended up asking instead.

He chuckled and shook his head, “She needs it and I don’t want her getting me killed.”

“You could’ve left her behind.”

“I could’ve left you behind.”

“Why didn’t you?”

I could feel the vampire’s gaze on me though he never looked away from the road. “You think you love my sister. It wouldn’t be right to leave you alive.”

 _You think you love my sister._ Those words rang through my skull, tearing at my heart. _Think you love._

“It’s not a matter of _thinking_ I do. I _do_ love her.”

“Actually, that isn’t exactly true.” Marit’s voice came from the back.

“Hey, vamp hunter actually knows something.” Though Cre’s voice was taunting there was an underlying sadness.

“Shove it, bloodsucker.” Though she mostly sounded annoyed there was a pain etched into her voice.

“Let me explain it to her.” Cre’s voice sounded grave. “Andria, I hate to break it to you. You don’t love her. You have a very strong trance on you. While you may care about her on your own, you don’t love her.” What was he talking about? Of course I loved her. I’d loved her for- “You woke up one morning and knew you loved her, right? Just like that.” His hand left the wheel long enough to snap before returning to its place on the wheel. “It’s a clever thing to do when you’re scared to lose someone.”

I tried to think back, the most terrifying thing about all of this was deep down it _made sense_. Don’t get me wrong. She was beautiful. In every sense of the word. I didn’t usually want to peel my eyes away from her because she was so damn attractive. There’d always been a reason though. I loved her.

“You would’ve bent over backwards for her. Done anything and everything she asked. She needed you at her every whim. Trancing you was her best option. My best guess is she tapped into her mate’s psychic abilities to pull it off because it was etched in deep and she is nowhere near strong enough to carve into you like that. Your mind is too strong.”

His words rang through my skull, rattling like dice in a cup. As much as it hurt, it all made _sense._

Something else occurred to me. A word. “You said ‘was’.”

“I imagine Mor didn’t like you. At all. Probably did everything he could to remind you what he was. Who he was. If that vampire has anything, it’s pride. When I first met you I could almost feel the aura of that trance radiating from you. Assumed it was whatever vampire you were with. When you claimed Predali I figured they did it. Anyways, it’s gone. I imagine while he was with you he broke the long term trance my sister had on you. It’ll take a while but it will fade.”

I pulled my knees to my chest and stared out the window. Anything was better than thinking about the possibility that everything I’d felt over the years was a lie. “Marit, why did you become a vampire hunter?”

Lethal silence. Nothing was said by her as _Highway to Hell_ started playing in the background. Oh the irony. No words were spoken until the chorus started. Finally, she spoke. Sounding too calm and collected for her to be actually calm and collected.

“My father. He was taken by a vampire when I was one and a half years old. The vampire kidnapped him, tranced him into being a human meat shield. Most vampire hunters, they don’t care who gets in the way. They see things as black and white. Vampires are all evil damned creatures. Humans are mostly good. If a few humans die in the crossfires, it’s for the greater good. This vampire took my father and somewhere around two hundred other humans. Stationed them around its house as security. The vampire hunters that were hunting it, they knew what it was doing. Rather than waiting for assistance from other hunters they went after it on their own. Only three of the humans survived it.”

Destiny had told me that using humans as protection from vampire hunters was dangerous. A bunch of humans vanishing was asking for a death sentence. Which meant… “The vampire did it as a suicide gesture?”

“Yes.” Her voice cracked.

My stomach churned. Destiny had told me about suicidal vampires, some would stake themselves, some would use the full moon and sacrifice themselves while letting someone else deal with the curse. This vampire had made humans into nothing more than meaningless sacrifices so they could die.

“The vampire that did it. Her name was Lilith. The first of us. Adam’s first wife. Based off the stories she told, the legend of her isn’t quite accurate. According to her and Jay says Lucifer confirmed this, she was created first. Before Adam was created she was created. The first human being.” He spouted something off in Latin, sounding slightly sad, before he continued, “Her first use of free will was to defy God. Rather than follow Him she left. After she left Him, He created Eve and she joined Lucifer. Using her he created the first of us.”

“Why would she commit suicide? After all these years?”

“Fear. She believed The Apocalypse was coming. Rather than be around for Hell on Earth burn she wanted to finally die. She would happily go to Hell, or maybe Purgatory if she had repented enough of her sins, rather than deal with Hell on Earth.”

“The Apocalypse?” Marit sounded…scared, strange coming from someone who claimed to be an Atheist.

“According to her, she sensed the birth of the Antichrist. She claimed that her father, The Fallen, had finally done the dirty deed of making some poor woman bear the child of the fallen angel. This woman would be cursed to years of unhappiness until the daughter grew up. The daughter would supposedly have such a terrible life that, when offered the chance, she would agree to starting The Apocalypse. For it to begin the child of The Fallen must agree. When Jay refused to send all of the vampires out to hunt for this girl Lilith left the Predali City and sacrificed herself.”

Each word he spoke sent icy chills down my spine, I couldn’t begin to understand how anyone human could possibly agree to start the apocalypse. How any vampire could possibly want the world to end. If the world ended…what would happen? Hell on Earth? That was what it would mean, right? There was absolutely no way someone could agree to that.

“They wouldn’t be completely human.”

“Stay out of my head.” There was no honesty to my words, I didn’t care, not really.

“This person would be half human, half fallen angel, unlike The Christ Child, this child is half fallen angel, which means they aren’t a hundred percent human. It is completely possible that this human wouldn’t be human enough to care about starting the Apocalypse.”

“You’re lying.” Marit’s voice was shaky with fear. I couldn’t blame her, even if I wasn’t what one would call religious, the idea of The Apocalypse was…terrifying.

“I’ll to you how real all of this. When we stop in the next city so I can stop by a _Laron_ before sunrise.”

I did know what a _Laron_ was. A place that kept humans tranced for passing vampires. The vampires that ran them allowed the vampires to use the humans for whatever they wanted, blood, punching bags, sex. They weren’t something most civilized creatures would use. Destiny despised them, rather than deal with the disgusting owners of the places she preferred hunting, even if it risked her getting caught by hunters.

“Oh shut up, Marit. It’s either that or I feed on some unsuspecting human. Maybe if you figure out how to hit me with a telepathic wave I’ll let you burn it to the ground.”

Something about him using a _Laron_ bothered me. It was one thing to feed on an unsuspecting victim, these were basically whore houses for vampires though. They weren’t there willingly, they were slaves, it was wrong.

“Feed on some random person.” Marit’s voice sounded defeated with a hint of disgust in it. “Hell, feed on me. Don’t feed on one of those people. It’s wrong. So wrong.”

Grateful. That was what I’d describe his voice as, he was grateful for the vampire hunter’s blessing, even if his words didn’t say that. “You’re joking, right? You’re going to make me hunt? Because there’s no way in Heaven or Hell I’m feeding on you.”

“Shove it, vamp boy. Burn it to the ground, feed on some not so innocent asshole, and leave me out of it.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a smirk showing up on Cre’s face. “Not doing it for you.” Was all he said as he sped up.


End file.
